13 Year Old Racing Phenom Jesse Love Earns Age Exemption for RPM Pro Late Model Series

August 23, 2018

PRESS RELEASEUPDATED: AUG 23, 2018

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla., August 23, 2018 (Newswire.com) - Jesse Love Racing and Love Motorsports are pleased to announce that they have received approval for 13-year-old rising racing talent Jesse Love to participate in the RPM Pro Late Model Series for the remainder of the 2018 season. The RPM Series is a nine-race, pro late model series out of Madera Speedway in Madera, California that is televised nationwide on MavTV.

Jesse will be the youngest driver to ever run the pro late model series at Madera. In 2017, he won five out of the eight races in the 51Fifty Energy Drink ® Jr. Late Model Series at age 12. The Jr. Late Model series is the brainchild of Madera Speedway track promoter Kenny Shepherd a former accomplished racer in his own right. The series received national attention in 2016 when Shepherd placed some of the nation’s best ten to sixteen-year-old drivers on the Madera Speedway racing surface to compete against each other and develop their racing craft in an environment that lets them gain experience in the full-size stock cars with similarly-experienced peers.

The ten to sixteen-year-old drivers run late model stock cars that are restricted by intake restrictors and rev limiters. Jesse Love is last years’ 51Fifty Series Champion and has more wins in the series than any other driver in series history. He has won three out of the six races run this season in the 51Fifty Series. Due to Love’s success in the series to date, track promoter Kenny Shepherd decided to grant him an exemption to run the remaining RPM Pro Late Model Series schedule.

Jesse is a fantastic young driver. We've been with Jesse for a few years and I'm really excited that they approved the waiver so he can compete at the next level and continue to hone his craft. He's just a completely different type of race car driver and this will certainly be another solid step forward in his development.

JACK IRVING, DIRECTOR OF TEAM AND SUPPORT SERVICES FOR TOYOTA RACING DEVELOPMENT

"Jesse has earned the opportunity to be granted the age exemption because of winning 3 of the Jr. Late Model televised races, and he also has the reputation of being a steady and smooth driver." said Shepherd "I am also looking forward to seeing how he performs against the series veterans."

Jesse drives stock cars for Naake-Klauer Motorsports out of Roseville, California. Team owner Mike Naake believes that Jesse is ready to move up to the pro late model series. “The 51Fifty Jr. Late Model series has been instrumental in Jesse’s driver development and because of his success in that Series, he is ready for the challenge that the RPM Pro Late Model Series presents. It is important for him to continue his momentum from the 51Fifty Series to the next level of racing. We are grateful that Madera Speedway has allowed him to move up and it is our plan to continue to run both series through the end of the year.”

ABOUT JESSE LOVE
Jesse Love, of Menlo Park, California, is a Toyota Racing Development driver. He started racing quarter midgets at the age of five and he hasn't looked back since. He racked up multiple State and National Championships in Quarter Midgets of America before the age of 10. Last year, in addition to winning five out of eight televised races to capture the 51FIFTY Energy Drink Championship, he also won the United State Auto Club (USAC) Western Overall Championship for USAC Western Focus Midgets, the USAC Dirt Championship and the USAC Pavement Championship, all in the same year. This was the first time in history that a single driver had ever won all three Championships in a single year.

Additionally, Jesse won more races than any other driver competing on both dirt and pavement in the USAC Western series in 2017. After wrapping up his regular season, Jesse headed out to the desert states to compete in the Silver State Road Course Series with INEX Legend Car Racing Series at the famed Las Vegas Motor Speedway Road Course. In his inaugural full season with the series, Jesse took another five wins out of the eight-race series, including the final three races to win the Championship.

Jesse has a full schedule in 2018, competing in three different divisions including stock cars, sprint cars, and the BCRA Midget Series in the Western States. Jesse had to apply for and receive “waivers” to compete in both the Hunt Magneto Sprint Car Series and the BCRA Full Midget series due to his age.

Both series granted waivers to the rising racing talent based on the strength of his racing resume to-date. When asked about his affiliation with 51Fifty, the young driver had the following to say, “I am honored to be driving with 51Fifty on the hood. They exemplify who I am, what I do, and what gets me out of bed in the morning. Living life at over 100 mph is all about taking risks and pushing the limits. 51Fifty understands this, they live it, and that’s why we are such a great team. Also, I really admire their founder, Carlos Vierra. He is a driver himself, so he understands what life is like, and he is there for everyone on the 51Fifty team. Most importantly, though, I love the idea that we give back through the Race for Autism campaign. For every can of 51Fifty sold, a portion is donated to the Race for Autism campaign. I am honored that I am able to be a part of that,” said Love.

ABOUT 51FIFTY ENERGY DRINK
51FIFTY Energy Drink, located in Livingston, California, was borne out of one man's desire to chase his dream. The entire team at 51FIFTY believe that everyone has the opportunity for greatness. The Energy Drink company is committed to giving back through its many racing programs, including Race for Autism. The Race for Autism is an autism awareness campaign where the company donates a percentage of every can of 51FIFTY Energy Drink sold toward the Carlos Vieira Foundation, a 501c(3) non-profit organization dedicated to helping families living with autism. To date, over $800,000 has been donated.